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How do I control how course grades are calculated?

Modified on: Sun, Sep 2, 2018 at 5:32 PM

The Manage Grading Methodologies page is where you can configure, edit, and copy grading methodologies for all your courses. Methodologies are formulas that determine what types of assessments factor into a student's grade. Usually, individual quarters have methodologies which stipulate that homework is a certain percentage of the grade, tests are another percentage, class attendance is yet another, and so on until the percentages (or weights) add up to 100%. Methodologies also apply to year grades, with each quarter being weighted and sometimes a final exam factoring into the final grade as well.

Be sure to check and set course methodologies at the beginning of each year since they don't carry over from one year to the next.

The Manage Grading Methodologies page is protected by the "Manage Grading Methodologies" permission. If you have the permission, reach the page by using the link on the Configure page or by clicking the blue "Manage Grading Methodologies" button on any course page (at the bottom of the "Grading Methodologies" section). If you don't have the "Manage Grading Methodologies" permission, neither the link on the Configure page nor the button on course pages will be visible.

If you navigate to the Manage Grading Methodologies page from the Configure page, it will be blank until you choose a course from the drop-down menu. If you click the "Manage Grading Methodologies" button on a course page, that course's methodologies will be displayed by default.

Adding Grading Term Methodologies

If a course has grading terms that don't have methodologies configured for them, you'll see a dashed "Add Methodology" tile on the Manage Grading Methodology page.

This tile will not be visible if all grading terms already have methodologies configured. Click the "Add & Configure" button to define the selected grading term's methodology using the same workflow used to edit existing methodologies.

Copying Methodologies

Students won't get grades unless there is a methodology configured for every grading term and every course for which they should receive grades. But don't worry! This isn't as daunting as painstakingly setting up different methodologies for every course at your school. All you have to do is choose one course and set up methodologies for the grading terms within that course and then you can copy them to every other course in your school with a few clicks.

Note: It's not possible to copy methodologies among schools (if you have more than one in Schoolrunner).

To copy methodologies, use the "Copy Grading Methodology" menu at the bottom of the page to expand the menu.

The first row allows you to choose multiple grading term methodologies and copy them to other courses. The second row allows you to choose a single methodology to copy to other grading terms for only the course selected on the page. For more details on copying methodologies, see this article.

Editing Methodologies

Remember that grading methodologies need to be set up for every grading term for which students should receive grades. For a standard year-long course, a student should get four quarter grades and one end-of-year grade. This means that each quarter needs to have a methodology defined and the final year methodology needs to be defined as well. Editing existing methodologies allows you to change the weighting and/or types of assessments that factor into student grades.

Edit methodologies by clicking on the pencil icon in the top right corner of each tile. Delete them by using the "Delete" button in the bottom right. For more detail on editing methodologies, see this article.